Learning from the masters

It’s like having Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald both give you writing lessons. Picasso and Matisse as your art mentors. The Beatles and the Stones.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who will guide the Western Conference All-Star team Sunday, learned his trade from the two greatest coaches of the NBA’s modern era. This week, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich won his 1,000th game, to go along with his five championships. Knicks President Phil Jackson, one of the New York hosts of All-Star weekend, earned 11 rings as a coach.

“Not too bad, huh?” said Will Perdue, who — along with Kerr — is one of just nine players to play for both Jackson and Popovich. Of that group, Perdue, Robert Horry and Kerr played the most games for the two coaches.

“If you could pick a duo of coaches to learn from, I’m not sure you’d want two other guys to study under,” Warriors general manager Bob Myers said. “It’d be like studying under Bill Walsh and Bill Belichick and combining the strengths of each.”

While Perdue and Kerr played together in Chicago and San Antonio, even winning a ring together with the Spurs in 1999, the former center said he never assumed Kerr was bound for coaching.

“But what always struck me was how hard he worked to make himself into an NBA

“He’s gathered from all these coaches he’s played for, but what’s great is that he doesn’t try to be them.”

Luke Walton, Warriors assistant coach on head coach Steve Kerr

player,” Perdue said. “To make himself stick.”

Kerr had to be a smart player to last 15 seasons in the NBA, and that game intelligence has helped his transition to coaching. But he was also a sponge, soaking in lessons of his coaches, who also included Hall of Famers Lenny Wilkens and Lute Olson. Others see those lessons put into practice.

“The thing I’ve noticed is his demeanor,” Perdue said. “You rarely saw Pop or Phil become demonstrative with players or officials. Steve isn’t either. He’s not an ass.”

Warriors assistant Luke Walton, who played for Jackson in Los Ange- les, also sees that calm.

“You see a lot coaches who are so up and down, but he’s very even,” Walton said. “Phil always taught us to stay as level as you can. Steve knows when to keep practice light and when to make it harder and yell at people. He doesn’t do that often, but when he does it’s effective.”

Walton sees other traces of Jackson. After the Warriors struggled in the fourth quarter in one game, Kerr felt they had lost their focus. The next morning at practice he ran a 10-minute silent offense, in which no one was allowed to talk.

“It was outside the box,” Walton said. “I’ve never seen anyone else do it. Phil used to meditate with us. Steve’s not a Zen master, but it’s the same kind of idea, where you shut your brain off and focus on what’s happening on the court.”

Kerr tries to change things up, like Jackson.

“Phil was so unique,” Kerr said. “Every day was a little different. He mixed in storytelling, Native American spirituality, meditation, breathing exercises, visualization. We’ve experimented with some things on our end, but you have to do it within your own personality and beliefs.”

In practical terms, Kerr has borrowed Jackson’s staff structure, a football model with an offensive coordinator (Alvin Gentry taking the Tex Winter role) and a defensive coordinator (Ron Adams in the position where Jackson first had John Bach and then Frank Hamblen).

“I like that,” Kerr said. “Alvin and I think the same way about offense. Ron looks at it from a technical side. It makes me think more about things I wouldn’t.”

Popovich didn’t run his staff that way. But his imprint is also on Kerr.

“I think about Pop all the time,” Kerr said. “About his lessons, his combination of humility, intelligence, work ethic and humor. He created a really fun, productive environment with the Spurs every day. I try to create the same type of thing.”

Gentry, who coached for Popovich, thinks Kerr relates to players in the same way as the San Antonio coach.

“He has the E.F. Hutton effect,” Gentry said, recalling the old advertising slogan. “When he talks, people listen. They know he means business.”

Jackson and Popovich have been masters at handling egos and con- vincing superstars that the team was bigger than anything else, something the Warriors have exhibited this season. Perdue said both reached that goal in different ways.

“Phil’s methods were almost sleight of hand,” Perdue said. “You almost weren’t sure how he was doing it. Pop was just straightforward. He told you straight up what he expected. There was no gray area with him. You never felt like there was an ulterior motive. You believed him.”

A coach’s authenticity is huge. Walton sees that with Kerr.

“He’s gathered from all these coaches he’s played for, but what’s great is that he doesn’t try to be them,” Walton said. “That’s very important because players in this league see through the fake. They see through people who are trying to be something they’re not and that loses them. Steve stays true to who he is.”

Kerr is indebted to both Jackson and Popovich. He says that without Jackson none of this would have happened: the championships, the time in San Antonio, the chance to be a general manager, a successful broadcasting career and, now, coaching the Warriors.

“What makes them both unique is their personal touch,” Kerr said. “Their ability to really get to know the players and their families. That takes time. One of the great things about the longevity they had with organizations is that they could take the time to develop those relationships.

“I’d like to get to that,” Kerr said. “We’re just getting started.”